Page 156 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

A jealous, ugly part of him was relieved that this man had rejected his child; if he had been a half-decent man, Kassein would have never met Alezya nor been given the chance to adopt Lumie as his own.

Thinking this, he took a deep breath in, and pulled Alezya in for a gentle hug, putting his lips close to her ears.

“Lumie is perfect,” he whispered. “Your baby is as beautiful as you, my moonlight. Your little snow girl is beautiful. I’ll love you both. I’ll protect you both. I’ve got you two.”

He let her relax against him, rubbing her back while emotions she’d kept suppressed for a while emerged in the form of quiet tears against his torso.

“Alright, I’m adding him to my list,” Kiera grunted. “Lumie’s bastard father is a dead man too.”

“...He’s mine,” Kassein suddenly hissed.

His sister raised an eyebrow, but Kassein pinned her with a glare that allowed no refusal.

“He’s mine,” he repeated.

“...Gods, eighteen years old, and you still can’t share with others,” Kiera rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine. I’ll probably have more than my fill of her tribe’s bastards to kill, anyway. Bonus points to whoever gets their hands on her wretched father first.”

Kassein didn’t care which one of them would get to him first, but he certainly wanted to make Alezya’s father’s death as slow and as painful as possible.

He couldn’t understand why a man would have thrown out and hunted his own daughter and grandchild.

The truth was, Kassein had cared very little about which tribes he would have to defeat until then, but now, he had one he planned to destroy above all else.

He hadn’t felt such a desire to fight in a long while, but now, his blood was boiling, and outside, Kein’s furious growl echoed through the valley too. His sister grinned sinisterly.

“...You and me both, Brother,” she smirked. “We do need a proper plan, though. We might have a dragon, but this is foreign territory for us, and if we’ve learned anything, it’s that they are gearing up for this fight. So what’s it going to be?”

Kassein turned his eyes back to Alezya, and cupped her face in his hands, gently wiping her tears with his thumbs. Even with her eyes red and her lips in a pout, she was adorable. He gave her a confident smile.

“...We need to meet with the kulani that will be our allies. The Munsa, and the others. Alezya can translate a plan for us.”

“Sounds fine to me,” Kiera shrugged, ”but where do we meet them?”

“We’ll find them. Alezya probably knows how to find them.”

At the mention of her name, Alezya frowned slightly.

“The Munsa Kulani ,” Kassein said. “Your friends. Where are they?”

“They find us,” Alezya said. “They say they come to Dragon Kulani. ”

“They might take a while,” Kiera frowned. “We’ve made our position a bit clear with how much ruckus we made, but it might take them all day to come to us.”

“It might be worth using Lady Alezya’s knowledge to meet those people halfway,” Tievin noted. “You might save some hours by walking through the mountains to meet them before they get here, since the Commander and Lady Kiera quite effectively emptied the previous mountains...”

“Let’s move the army along,” Kiera nodded. “No point in staying here either. And Herken mentioned things have been quiet on his side, I think the tribes won’t dare touch the camp with us here. We should consider having him send some of his men to secure the route back...”

“Let’s have the whole army come up here,” Kassein suddenly decided.

“What?” Tievin squeaked. “But, sir, the camp–”

“The camp is nothing but a bunch of tents and supplies in the middle of nowhere,” Kassein hissed. “If we empty it and bring it all up here with us, it doesn’t matter. I’d rather ensure we have enough men up here to win whatever war is coming than have a third of my men guarding a piece of land.”

“...It’s a good point,” Kiera said. “If anything happens to the camp, so what? As you said, it’s in the middle of nowhere; it’s not like there’s a village nearby for them to raid or something.

Even if they did try to reach the village, it would take them days by foot, and Nebora and Lorey would know what to do. ”

“Well,” Tievin nodded, ”it does sound like a sound decision, sir. I shall organize the General’s arrival and coordinate with all three generals to move the army to follow you with minimal risks and optimal supplies.”

“I’ll fly Kiki back to the camp to tell Herken,” Kiera said, ”and then I’ll tour the mountains and see if I can gather any intel. Do you want me to fly Kein too, just so the enemy doesn’t know our position? Not that I trust his crazy ass not to throw me off, but...”

“Kein will fly off,” Kassein said. “I’ll have him roam the mountains, be sure the tribes feel that we’re coming for them, friend or foe.”

“You’re keeping the three terrors,” Kiera said.

“I think Alezya can handle them,” Kassein said with a smug smirk.

His sister rolled her eyes.

“Alright, whatever. See you all later!”

Just like that, she left to find Kiki outside, and soon after, they heard Kein take off with a growl too.

“We are going to find the Munsa and your kulani friends,” Kassein told Alezya. “We’re taking the baby dragons with us. Tievin will follow us with the army.”

“May I suggest you take a unit with you?” Tievin said. “I think I remember that the young Captain Dajan had some positive interactions with Lady Alezya, sir. Keeping some men with you might be helpful if you are to walk ahead.”

“Fine,” Kassein nodded.

It didn’t take long to find the young and eager Captain Dajan and his men, and within the hour, their little scouting unit was ready to depart, Alezya and a tiny herd of young dragons leading them.

While Niiru was sticking by her side, the triplets were happy to run ahead in the tunnels, even if they got lost a couple of times and had to turn back, enough that Alezya quickly learned all three of their names from Kassein and that they were his ten-year-old nephews’ and niece’s dragons.

The dragons were quite efficient in clearing the path ahead, as their sense of smell easily led them to formerly occupied areas, toward random animals’ lairs even, and emptied the tunnels rather quickly.

A couple of times, they heard scared human voices running away, but Alezya ignored them, focusing on the direction she was headed.

They didn’t stay in the tunnels long and, instead, resurfaced on one of the mountains, switching to traveling outside, which was better for keeping an eye on the dragons and the movements ahead.

As planned, Kein was roaming above their heads, guaranteeing that their enemies wouldn’t dare show, so they could make good progress by avoiding the indoor mazes of tunnels and cramped caves and taking a main road instead.

Still, they walked for a long time, only stopping for a quick lunch break, and Kassein was impressed with Alezya’s endurance.

He had already noticed she had a great physique under her injuries, but it was his first time seeing her thrive in her environment, and he could easily see how she had survived so long in the mountains while being poorly treated by her tribe.

Twice, she designated bushes or herbs with edible food for his men to stock up on, and she once prevented them from falling into a crevice nearly invisible to the naked eye.

Every time they had to climb, she made it look like she was as light as a feather and as nimble as a young dragon.

Although he positioned himself to secure her position at all times and only let her hand go when he had to, Kassein felt a bit of pride seeing Alezya move around like this was a casual walk.

Meanwhile, Dajan and his men were beginning to tire from the relentless challenges of the trek; shoes trudging through thick snow, the uneven footing, and the constant shifts between steep ascents, swift descents, and sudden climbs were taking a toll on the men.

None of them complained when a woman was leading them without showing a hint of fatigue herself, but it was clear they were exhausted.

It wasn’t until later in the day, close to the late afternoon, that Alezya suddenly froze and recalled the adventurous young dragons with a gentle whistle.

When Bora, the most stubborn of the trio, failed to return, Kassein clicked his tongue angrily, prompting the young dragon’s immediate sheepish return and a curious glance from Alezya.

He raised his eyebrows, but before he could say something, someone appeared ahead of them. Immediately, many of his men put their hands on their weapons, but Kassein raised his hand to stop them.

He was watching Alezya’s demeanor, and she didn’t seem nervous about whoever they’d run into. As soon as the person was within range, Alezya spoke to them, and they exchanged words for a couple of seconds before Kassein saw her shoulders relax.

“It’s friends,” she said.

“The Munsa?”

She gave him a nod, and walked up to the stranger. Even if they’d doubted the newcomer, that person was far too intimidated by the little herd surrounding Alezya to approach her, and instead, they turned around to walk back, guiding them to wherever their tribe was stationed.

Their group was led back inside the tunnels, and it didn’t take more than a few minutes before they ran into an impressively large gathering.

“Bora?” Kassein called the dawn-colored dragon. “Go get Kiera and Kiki. Bring them here.”

He then sent Leni back the same way to guide Tievin, knowing the Intendant would know to follow the younger dragon with his troops all the way here.

The triplets may have been a lively and mischievous trio, but as ten-year-old dragons, they understood a lot more than they let on when they weren’t playing or bickering.

Kassein stood silently, his presence as constant and close as a shadow to Alezya. His hand rested lightly on her waist while she engaged with the gathered tribespeople, his watchful eyes alternating between her reactions and the crowd.